CONFERENCE SPEAKERS BIOS Listing to Date. UPDATED! 04/24/08 Colonel Raanan Tal (Ret) is - One of the Directors of the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, at the Jerusalem office is retired after serving 25 years in the Jerusalem Police Department, of the Israel National Police. Tal has commanded a number of elite counter terror units throughout the city of Jerusalem. His responsibilities included commander of the Jerusalem intelligence and undercover units which included counter terror responsibilities related to early interdiction of adversarial planning. Successful early interdiction was to the credit of his unit's robust human intelligence program. Other command responsibilities included the head of the Rapid Response Unit for the city of Jerusalem. Under his command, this highly trained tactical unit, responded to major threats throughout the city, including terrorism. Prior to retirement, Tal commanded the Old City of Jerusalem precinct. As Precinct Commander, Colonel Tal contained and responded to some of the fiercest rioting in the Old City of Jerusalem. Charles Schnabolk - Mr. Schnabolk, P.E., E.E., MBA is a consulting engineer specializing in counter-terrorism activities and security system design for complex public facilities including the security system for the World Trade Center in 1970.  He was also the consultant on the first anti-terrorist study sponsored by a U.S. organization [NY & NJ Port Authority] in 1985.  His confidential report predicted the first terrorist attack on American soil [garage area under the Towers in 1993] and details on the probability of planes flying into the towers.  The confidential report was distributed to a few Port Authority officials and was never made public until the report became the focus of a landmark court decision in 2006 that found the Port Authority liable for tenant damages because officials ignored the recommendations made in that study. Once the court decision was judicated, the details in the study was no longer restricted under the confidentiality agreement and, for the first time, Mr. Schnabolk is free to discuss the controversy surrounding the study at the IACSP seminar.  He has taught security courses at Rutgers University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Pratt Institute and Florida International University.  He has been the featured speaker at many security seminars and is the author of "Physical Security: Practices & Technology". His second text book will be published in the fall. John G. Voeller - Department of Homeland Security - Consultant to Office of Science and Technology White House - Residing Consultant to Office of Science and Technology Policy Black & Veatch - SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CKO and CTO In October 2003, Mr. Voeller took a year leave from Black & Veatch to accept an ASME Fellowship in the Office of Science and Technology Policy for the Executive Office of the President. His role at the White House office encompassed several unique activities not commonly available to a Fellow because Mr. Voeller brought very high security clearances with him from past Federal consulting efforts. At the end of the Fellowship year, he was asked to stay on as a consultant with offices at OSTP and White House credentials under a contract provided by DHS. His duties have included: OSTP representative for developing the National Critical Infrastructure Protection R&D Plan Helping lead the eight month effort of writing the first all-agency security research and development plan for the nation. The plan, called the Critical Infrastructure Protection R&D Plan or CIP Plan brought together all the capabilities of government to address the vast array of issues related to protecting the critical assets of the nation required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7. As the OSTP representative, Mr. Voeller provided the early drafts of the plan to give the agencies a picture of what it should contain and how it might be structured. The plan was then assembled using writers and advisors from the major agencies who represent the real owners of the plan which will be updated annually and used to guide all CIP investment in the future. Mr. Voeller provided writing for all sections as well as the major graphics used to explain the complex plan. Mr. Voeller also provided the CIP effort with a database of all the CIP-related RDT&E efforts done across government. The database was assembled by Mr. Voeller over several months and involved querying every major Federal database and collection which tagged over 500,000 projects across all agencies. Mr. Voeller then manually distilled these down to the projects specifically related to key aspects of infrastructure protection. No other database of this detail and breadth exists anywhere else and it is updated constantly with the most recent data. OSTP representative for developing the Homeland Security R&D Strategic Plan Developed in a very short schedule, this effort was designed to provide the White House with a view of strategic priorities in time to affect the 2005 budget process while waiting on the larger plan. Mr. Voeller drafted the CIP section of this plan and guided its editing. CBRTA - Mr. Voeller also has been the Technical Leader, Chemical, Biological, Radiological Technology Alliance (CBRTA), working on advanced technology to deal with terrorist threats with 13 companies including Honeywell, 3M, Motorola, Lucent, General Dynamics, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Veridian, Cargill, Becton Dickinson, Syracuse Research Corp. and RAE. Michael W. Cutler - Mr. Cutler graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences. Mr. Cutler began working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in October 1971 when he entered on duty as an Immigration Inspector assigned to John F. Kennedy International Airport. From 1973 until 1974 He was assigned as an examiner to the unit which was responsible for adjudicating petitions filed by United States Citizens and Lawfully Admitted Permanent Resident Aliens (LPRs) on behalf of their alien spouses to accord them LPR status. His goal in this assignment was to attempt to uncover fraud marriages and fraud marriage rings.  In August 1975 he became a Criminal Investigator (Special Agent) for the INS at NYC. He rotated through virtually every squad in the Investigations Branch. AS a special agent he conducted investigations and arrests of individuals involved in a wide variety of immigration-related violations of law including a number of international terrorists. From 1988 until 1991 he was assigned as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In 1991 he was promoted to the position of Senior Special Agent and was assigned to the Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) which required that he work with members of other law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and local and state police as well as law enforcement organizations of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan, to conduct investigations of aliens involved in major drug trafficking organizations.  These investigations ultimately resulted in the seizure of the assets of these criminals and their arrests and successful prosecutions for a wide variety of criminal violations. Mr. Cutler retired from the INS in February 2002 after a career that spanned some 30 years.  Mr. Cutler has testified as an "Expert witness" at more than a dozen Congressional hearings on issues relating to the enforcement of immigration laws having been called by members of both political parties and having appeared in both houses of Congress.   Mr. Cutler has also furnished testimony to the Presidential Commission on the Terrorist Attacks of September 11.  He is currently a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank, is a Contributing Expert on the nexus between immigration and terrorism for the Counterterrorism Blog, an advisor to the 911 Families for a Secure America and also advises the American Council for Immigration Reform as well as Family Security Matters and the American Council for Immigration Reform on issues concerning immigration issues that relate to national security.  He is a consultant who has testified in court proceedings concerning immigration-related issues. Finally, Mr. Cutler has appeared on numerous television and radio programs, including Lou Dobbs Tonight, "The O'Reilly Factor," "Your World With Neil Cavuto," "Glenn Beck" and various MSNBC news programs and many other television and radio news-oriented programs to discuss the enforcement of immigration laws. He has also participated in various public debates and panel discussions in numerous venues throughout the United States, including college campuses, on issues involving the enforcement and administration of immigration laws.  Among the areas of concern that he is able to speak about authoritatively are: The nexus between immigration and national security, the impact of immigration on the criminal justice system and strategies to combat illegal immigration and restore integrity to the immigration system.  Aaron Richman - is the Co Director for the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response in Philadelphia and Israel, where he is responsible for projects that deal with emergency management and planning, as well as consulting, exercise development, and curriculum development for emergency responders and managers. He specializes in emergency planning and training for incidents of weapons of mass destruction and suicide bombings. Richman has conducted various research projects. Among the projects, Richman addressed the role of information collection in interdictions into the terror planning phases, as well as leadership decisions during responses to terror incidents. Mr. Richman comes from a career in military and law enforcement in the Middle East. After serving military tours in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and the West Bank, he was recruited to the national drug unit as an undercover officer. After serving a period of time in the unit, he was transferred to a counter terror unit designed to combat the suicide bombers who were attacking civilians inside Israel. Mr. Richman served as patrol commander in various locations inside the City of Jerusalem. As part of his responsibility, he commanded the security forces within the Old City and Center City of Jerusalem where he responded to a majority of the terror incidents in the city. He has also taken part in the pre-planning phases to some of the major incidents in Israel that include the Millennium, the rioting at the Dome of the Rock, the Iraq chemical threat on Israel, and counter terror programs to combat the suicide bombers. Mr. Richman is formerly, Director of a Special Operations Training Center located in Philadelphia, PA. In this role and funded by federal grants, Richman established a statewide weapons of mass destruction program with the mission of preparing pre hospital and hospital care personnel in the proper responses to various threats. This program included preparing healthcare facilities in hospital incident command compliancy as well as emergency response planning and training. Mr. Richman is a licensed paramedic and has partaken in numerous training events associated with emergency services and law enforcement, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security as a consultant. He has instructed paramedics, law enforcement personnel, and civilians in mass casualty incidents, suicide bombers, and weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Richman has a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Leicester and a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Temple University, as well as various specialized counter terror training in the U.S. and Israel. Currently, Richman is a Doctoral candidate in Public Policy and Emergency Response and lectures for the master's degree programs for Philadelphia University and The American Public University. Thomas M. Hodgson - is a law enforcement and corrections professional, joined the staff of the Bristol County Sheriff's Office in 1994. Upon assuming the role of Sheriff he immediately implemented his goals for corrections reform, public safety, and raising the standards to enhance the primary mission of care and custody of inmates. He also has been successful in bringing together a number of Law Enforcement/Public Safety agencies through the establishment of a Law Enforcement Collaborative. In 1998, the Sheriff was selected by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. to be briefed on the growing national concern regarding terrorist activities and weapons of mass destruction. Since that time he has become a leader in Homeland Security and has established the Bristol County Homeland Security Task Force. He led a 50 person unit to "Ground Zero" in September of 2001. Sheriff Hodgson believes that early childhood intervention could be the answer to prison overcrowding and the high rate of recidivism. He has aggressively sought grant funding and has implemented several school and youth programs, all of which have proven to be highly successful. His commitment to public safety includes many initiatives for the Senior Community, including nine TRIAD (Police, Sheriff, and Council on Aging) programs that have been successfully implemented in Bristol County. Sheriff Hodgson initiated the Strategic Accountability Management System (SAMS) that is designed to hold employees accountable for the work they are performing. This employee accountability system has been successfully used in Broward County, Florida and Rikers Island, New York. The great strides made by the Bristol County Sheriff's Office has resulted in National Accreditations from the American Correctional Association for the Dartmouth House of  Correction 2005-2010, and the Women's Center 2005-2008. Colonel D. Gavigan - is a nationally and internationally recognized specialist in terrorism.He is a former Assistant Adjutant in the Army National Guard and hasover forty-two years of service to the country. He is a consultant andDeputy Sheriff in Bristol County where he heads the "Special OperationsDivision" and holds the rank of Colonel. He commanded the 685thMilitary Police battalion of over 500 personnel during the "Blizzard of78" and the Papal visit to Boston in 1979. He received specialized training in terrorism at the CaliforniaSpecialized Training Institute, US Army Military Police School, US ArmySpecial Forces Terrorism Instructor School, US Army Chemical School,and National Emergency Management Agency. He is a graduate of the ATFPost Blast Explosive Investigation School.  Colonel Gavigan was the first officer to travel to Lithuania to train their Special Forces in anti-terrorism.   Past Terrorisim Trends and Forcasts Symposium. Back